African American Studies Commons^™

Identifying Strategies That Address Race-Based Traumatic Stress Of African Americans In Rural Mississippi, Syrenia Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There has been a dramatic increase of race-based encounters that have had an extensive health impact on African Americans. Social workers and other mental health professionals play a crucial role in working with African American adults who experience race-based traumatic stress. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify strategies to address race-based traumatic stress from a mental health perspective. Racial encounter coping appraisal and socialization theory (RECAST) guided this study where eight social workers from the local community mental health center in rural Mississippi completed an open-ended questionnaire to identify and determine culturally competent treatment strategies for African …

Portrait Narratives Of Caring Teachers For African American High School Students, Larissa T. Mccormick

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

For African American high school students, caring relationships extend beyond peer

interaction to include supporting adults, most particularly teachers, who are pivotal to

their educational experience and success or lack of success. The research problem

centered on the lack of diversity and authentic voice when discussing caring teacher-student relationships. Markedly, the voices of African American high school students

were lacking from the current body of research literature. The purpose of this narrative

qualitative study was threefold: (a) to capture the voices of African American high school

students’ as they shared their experience(s) about a caring teacher; (b) to capture the …

Beyond The Rainbow: Predicting Intra And Intergroup Political Attitudes Of Latinx And Black Americans And The Potential For Cooperation And Conflict, Randall Wyatt

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation uses social psychological theory and methods to better understand the political attitudes of whites, Blacks, Latinx Americans and Asian Americans in the contemporary United States. Using quantitative methodology and survey research, I estimate the potential for cooperation and conflict between racial minorities and the political implications that these measures may have. I show that perceptions of competition with immigrants are strongly associated with anti-immigration preferences even among racial minorities such as Blacks and Latinx Americans, of who have a long history of migration to the United States. However, I also show that there is potential for interracial cooperation …

I Hope My Black Skin Don't Dirt This White Tuxedo, Luis A. Vasquez La Roche

Theses and Dissertations

I Hope My Black Skin Don't Dirt This White Tuxedo is a series of works--sculpture, installations, and performances--that explore themes of shame, failure, commodity, ephemerality, ritual, resilience, erasure, race, and death. The research and interest in these themes stem from a page of the Trinidad and Tobago Slave Registry. I use the research that surrounds this document to highlight different moments in history, in my personal life, and to imagine near futures.

Against The Eyes Of God And Man: The Suicide And Alcohol Intoxication Deaths Of Enslaved People In Alexandria And Henrico County, Virginia, 1805-1829, Peighton L. Young

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to provide a compressive examination of suicide and self-destructive behaviors within specific enslaved populations in early republic Virginia localities. I use coroners’ inquests as the primary means for identifying notable causes of death and potential behavioral patterns amongst the enslaved people presented in this study. I focused my investigation on two causes of death, demographics, and localities respectively: the drowning suicides committed by enslaved women along the Potomac River waterfront in Alexandria between 1807 and 1824 and the alcohol intoxication-related deaths of enslaved men in Henrico County between 1805 and 1829. Stepping away from …

A Qualitative Study: Black Male College Students’ Perceptions Of Campus Law Enforcement Officers On A College Campus, Junelle M. Bennett

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Black males are often the recipients of police brutality, criminal stereotyping, and inequitable treatment in higher education. This qualitative study examined the experiential narratives of 15 Black male college students’ perception towards law enforcement officers. The data was collected via one-on-one interviews, concluded with a focus group, and then presented in narrative forums. The participants’ feelings, attitudes, or beliefs about themselves as Black males significantly contributed to their inherent identification of the cultural challenges associated with law enforcement officers. The participants’ personal and vicarious life experiences prior to enrolling into higher education were significant to the authentic comprehension of the …

Social Change Leadership Development Associated With Black Greek Letter Organizations (Bglo): Determining How The Divine Nine Bglos Develop Social Change Leaders, Jason Reco Goode

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This study sought to add literature to the topic of Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLOs) that were part of the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) by exploring the benefits of BGLO membership related to social change leadership development. There were no studies that explained how BGLOs developed social change leaders. This qualitative study of BGLOs used two 90-minute interviews to gather data about BGLO member’s perceptions regarding their social change leadership development. The literature review provided history on the inception of Greek organizations, founding of BGLOs, the NPHC, non-NPHC Black Greek organizations, Masonic influence, student development, student leadership theories, activism, social …

S.I.S. (Suffering In Silence): The Influence Of Educational Attainment On Black Women’S Health, Quiana Chakeena Jones

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative, narrative inquiry study was to explore the influence of educational attainment on Black women’s perceptions of their health. Empirical research indicates the causes of stress and other health concerns pertaining to Black women are often rooted in racism and discrimination. Within the literature, the barriers that many African American women face within the educational system on all levels are discussed. However, there are few studies that have specifically researched the connection between educational attainment regarding receiving bachelorette degrees or higher and how or if that has an influence on Black women’s health. As such, the …

Issues Of Modernity In Russian And U.S. Southern Discourse: Literary And Cinematic Crosscurrents, Zachary John Killebrew

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation traces formulations of modernity, national and regional identity, and economy in the literature and film of Russia and the U.S. South from serfdom to the Second World War. Studying serf and slave narratives, Russian Realist and Southern Renaissance novels such as The Brothers Karamazov (1879), Demons (1872), The Sound and the Fury (1929), Tobacco Road (1932), and Wise Blood (1952), and American and Soviet films such as Volga, Volga (1938) and Cabin in the Sky (1943), this examination locates within Russo-Southern discourses a shared interest in striking out against Western or Northern epistemologies to assert a “peripheral” modernity …

First-Generation Black Males’ Challenges In Attending A Pwi: Understanding What Makes Them Persist, Shakeitra Simmons

Masters Theses

Using qualitative methodology, the researcher studied the challenges and persistence factors for undergraduate First-generation Black males to persist at a Predominantly White Institution. Through conducting six one-on-one semi-structured interviews, the researcher identified the challenges faced by this group of students as mental health, lack of support, and racism/microaggressions. The researcher also identified the factors for persistence at the PWI to be upward mobility, family and school personnel support, and campus involvement.

Get Out (2017), Us (2019), And Jordan Peele's New Black Body Horror, Brady Simenson

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis provides an analysis of Jordan Peele’s films, Get Out (2017) and Us (2019). The thesis contextualizes Get Out and Us as part of a protracted cultural conversation regarding monstrous images of the cinematic black body that began with Hollywood’s early monster films and continued into the culturally subversive era of blaxploitation horror films. While blaxploitation cinema reclaimed images of the racial Other that had been represented in the early creature feature subgenre, no such notable movement has subverted the more recent body horror subgenre. Jordan Peele’s Get Out and Us shift this subgenre toward racially inverted body horror. …

How Feminist Beliefs Relate To Self-Objectification In African American Females, Ashton Shelby

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Sexual objectification has consistently been found to significantly influence self-objectification in women. Self-objectification has been linked to a number of adverse effects in women including depression, sexual dysfunction, and disordered eating. All females are vulnerable to sexually objectifying experiences and thus, developing self-objectifying behaviors and issues. Although extensive research explores both forms of objectification with Caucasian females, less is known about females in minority groups. In addition, little research has explored potential moderating variables. In other research related to investigating women's mental health, feminism is one variable that has been found to have a positive effect on women's issues. This …

African American Men's Perceptions Of Colorism, Naeemah A. Young-Jones

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Colorism bias related to skin complexion is a persistent phenomenon within the African American community and often shapes the family dynamics and results in noteworthy adverse psychosocial impacts for African Americans. Researchers have examined colorism or the preference for lighter skin over darker skin primarily as it pertained to women, but little research existed regarding men. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of African American men with respect to their attitudes toward skin complexion and how those attitudes inform their dating habits and self-esteem. Understanding how this group of men managed living this phenomenon …

African American High School Graduates’ Perceptions Of Their African American Principal’S Leadership, Patricia Mitchell Marzett

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is a need to increase high school graduation rates for African American students, decrease dropout rates, and narrow or close the achievement gap between African American students and White students. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to determine the perceptions of African American students who graduated from high school regarding the leadership of their African American principal. Delgado and Stefancic’s critical race theory and Bass’s transformational leadership constitute the conceptual framework for this study. Nine participants who graduated from high schools led by an African American principal were interviewed, and transcripts were analyzed using in vivo coding. …

Acculturative Experiences Of African American Military Wives In An Arctic Environment, Demetria Roshan White

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

United States military wives typically relocate every few years with their active-duty husbands. But little is known about the acculturative stress and stressors associated with relocating and reestablishing a military home in an Arctic environment. This qualitative research focused on African American women who were also military wives and the acculturative stress they encountered in relocating to an Arctic environment. Face to face interviews provided a platform for 10 military wives to share their personal experiences. The acculturative stress that African American military wives’ acculturative stress and stressors encountered in relocating from a non-Arctic to an Arctic environment are not …

Maternal Discrimination Stress And Negative Birth Outcomes Among Black Women, Quantrilla Y. Ard

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Black women are more than twice as likely as White women to experience losing their infants in the first year of life. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine relationships between maternal discriminatory stress and negative birth outcomes such as preterm delivery, low birth weight, very low birth weight, and infant death among Black women with varying levels of education. This study was grounded in critical race theory and Black feminist theory, positing that Black women are the sum of intersecting identities that shape their world view. A sample of 107 Black women were recruited by convenience and …

Program Evaluation Of A Black Barbershop Health Outreach Campaign, Berkina Denise Porter

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Black-owned barbershops in the Black community lack barber administered interventions to provide education and health screenings to Black men. Increasing knowledge of health assessments in a black barbershop setting increases the number of health screenings and preventative care among Black men. Grounded in general systems theory, the purpose of this qualitative summative program evaluation was to explore the extent to which a nonprofit Black barbershop health program aligns with the Health Research (HR) program objectives. The evaluation was performed for a nonprofit organization located in Maryland, 6 years after the organization implemented the HR Program Network of barbers and salon …

Africentrism, Leadership, And Human Rights At Indiana University’S African American Dance Company, Vickie M. Casanova-Willis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The need for educational leadership to prepare multicultural students for 21st-century careers in a global economy is high; however, there is scant research on the right to culturally relevant education and its potential to foster the dispositions required of individuals and society in this context. Critical race theory, human rights ideals, and distributed leadership theory provided the conceptual framework for this interpretive qualitative study to explore the experiences of those who participate in African-centered arts education and to investigate its possible benefits as a reparative human rights tool. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with 9 former and current members …

Perceptions Of The Reentry Process Among African American Male Ex-Offenders With Multiple Incarcerations, Chanae Latrice Lumpkin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Within 3 years of their release from the criminal justice system, almost 7 out of 10 released African American males go back to. There is limited social science research into how these ex-offenders perceive their lived experiences after release. The research questions that guided this inquiry related to understanding the post-prison experiences of African American males with a history of multiple incarcerations. The conceptual framework was guided by Tajfel’s social identity theory and Becker’s social reaction theory. Interviews were conducted with a purposeful sample of 6 African American males with a history of multiple incarcerations who had been released from …

How Feminist Beliefs Relate To Self-Objectification In African American Females, Ashton Shelby

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Sexual objectification has consistently been found to significantly influence self-objectification in women. Self-objectification has been linked to a number of adverse effects in women including depression, sexual dysfunction, and disordered eating. All females are vulnerable to sexually objectifying experiences and thus, developing self-objectifying behaviors and issues. Although extensive research explores both forms of objectification with Caucasian females, less is known about females in minority groups. In addition, little research has explored potential moderating variables. In other research related to investigating women’s mental health, feminism is one variable that has been found to have a positive effect on women’s issues. This …